


The Big Sister

by yuffiehighwind



Series: An Eternity in Cheese Country [2]
Category: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-01
Updated: 2009-07-01
Packaged: 2017-11-20 01:54:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/580008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuffiehighwind/pseuds/yuffiehighwind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Athena was always the one left to clean up the mess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Big Sister

Athena was orderly.  
  
Zeus established rules after the Titans were defeated and imprisoned. He established rules, and when he became bored of Olympus' bureaucracy, while he traveled and mingled with the mortals, Athena enforced those rules.  
  
There was protocol to be followed. The members of the Pantheon were given official positions and were expected to fulfill these roles. Everyone was required to give as well as take. Athena held great pride and love for humanity, and she often mourned when her cousins tormented mortals outside the realm of "the natural order."

Nature was unforgiving. Athena couldn't rein in Poseidon if she wanted; he was her uncle and one of the original brothers, and he kept the ocean the way he liked it. No hubris-filled humans dared set sail on his waters without a healthy dose of fear. On the shore, earthquakes, storms, and fire sometimes ravaged the landscape. The various evils that had been released when Pandora foolishly opened her box roamed freely as well. And of course, the humans, having been granted free will, tore into each other worse than any predator or natural disaster.   
  
Athena had her favorite mortals, of course, and sometimes thought the state of things was unfair, but this was how the world best functioned. The people of Athens had named their city for her, and so she protected and guided them. Tried to keep them safe. Anyone else was outside her jurisdiction, but Athena still did her best to rein in her malicious cousins when they grew bored and started to scheme.  
  
It was really the House of War she had to worry about - Ares and his stupid brats. They were born with certain "talents" and unsavory proclivities towards violence and mayhem. When they kept themselves unseen, they were easy enough to handle. When they let themselves be seen, however...

Athena was the one who had to clean up their mess.  
  
  



End file.
